In a country where the unemployment rate for workers with disabilities is double that of workers without disabilities, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee proves that people with disabilities are not just hired hands but vital members of our labor force.
Founded by the dynamic husband-and-wife team, Ben and Amy Wright, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee is not just a coffee shop, but a human rights movement. With 20 locations scattered across the United States and counting, the Wrights are expanding the reach of their family-owned business while meaningfully integrating people with disabilities into the workforce.
Today, the company proudly employs hundreds of individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), offering them opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach. When asked why individuals with disabilities are often precluded from the workforce, the Wrights believe it has to do with a “lack of exposure.”
“We think the reason that people underestimate what people with disabilities can do is because of a lack of exposure. They come up with their own conclusions, especially in the workplace,” says Amy.
The Wrights, who have two children with Down syndrome (Bitty & Beau), know this situation all too well: in 2023, workers with disabilities had an unemployment rate of 7.2 percent, compared with 3.5 percent for workers without disabilities.
The company’s slogan, “Leave your doubt at the door,” encapsulates its mission of challenging societal norms and reshaping perceptions about people who have disabilities.
It “encourages people to leave all of their preconceived notions about who people with disabilities are and what they’re capable of doing, and allow themselves to have a transformative experience and start to see people with disabilities differently,” says Amy. “That happens every day in our shops.”
She explains that including people with disabilities in something as simple as your morning coffee routine; It can empower you to realize that people with disabilities are not defined by their limitations, but rather by their abilities and contributions.
“Sometimes people have never spent time with people with disabilities,” she continues. “They’ve never spent a few minutes with someone with Down syndrome, autism or cerebral palsy. And so just by creating touch points throughout the customer experience where they are interacting with people with disabilities, that’s enough to make a change.”
Everything else is “icing on the cake” when it comes to the wonderful experience that customers have when they visit a Bitty & Beau’s Coffee shop, but the physical act of bringing people together and allowing them to connect is where the Wrights believe change really starts.
Their aim is to develop spaces that foster human connection, eliminate the barriers that are at the heart of disability discrimination, and create a world in which everyone feels fully seen, welcomed, and included.
“You can get coffee anywhere you want. It’s ubiquitous. But you can’t get what Amy’s talking about everywhere else,” adds Ben.
He continues, “I think there’s a high amount of fear that people have in regards to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It’s a very easy population of people to ignore…until we realize that disability can touch any one of us at any moment.”
“We look at this population of people, which we may join someday, and we devalue them as humans. We start to think they’re less than us and they’re broken, or they’re just not worth our time or effort, but I think the business world is uniquely positioned to change that narrative.”
By humanizing the disability experience and emphasizing our shared humanity, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee is challenging us to confront our biases and recognize the inherent value of every individual.
The Wrights believe that we can create a world where people with intellectual developmental disabilities have a place in the workforce. “We’re just not sure what that looks like yet. The technology, the services, the products that could be innovated, there’s so much potential,” adds Ben.
Determined to make a difference, they created a solution—employment opportunities for people with disabilities that have the potential to change not just individual lives, but society as a whole.
In the business world, where profit often takes precedence over social impact, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee serves as a benchmark for corporate responsibility. The company sets an example for what it looks like when disability inclusion isn’t just a moral imperative, but a business imperative.
As the Wrights continue to advocate for change, they invite us to join them on this journey towards a more inclusive society—one cup of coffee at a time. Visit their website to learn more.
